Washington, DC – The Missouri School of Journalism [1], the Committee of Concerned Journalists, and the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute [2] today announced the details of research projects they’ll be partnering on with three news organizations around the country. The announcement took place during the 2006 Curtis B. Hurley Symposium [3] at the National Press Club and included a panel of presentations by representatives from each news organization in the project.

The association between the Missouri School – the world’s first journalism school; CCJ – whose Traveling Curriculum [4] training program has reached more than 7,500 journalists around the country; and the Reynolds Institute – an emerging center at the School that will be a nucleus of collaborative innovation, research, and demonstration of new technologies and processes that improve journalism; formally commenced in July 2006. Today’s announcement was the first of what all hope will be many opportunities to collaborate on research and outreach that will drive innovation and positive change in journalism.

The combination of the Missouri School’s research resources and CCJ’s training expertise will be put to use by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel [5], WHO-TV in Des Moines [6], and Minnesota Public Radio [7] in unique projects which will focus on issues ranging from more intensive verification of information to innovative use of the internet to engage news consumers and facilitate online communities.

CCJ Vice Chairman Tom Rosenstiel introduces Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editor Martin Kaiser, middle, and senior editor for suburban news Bruce Gill, right.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s editor, Martin Kaiser, and senior editor for suburban news, Bruce Gill, discussed how the paper will focus on using the internet to pull readers into the process of verifying information by inviting them to comment on the process and offer opinions about areas requiring follow up and greater scrutiny. Kaiser noted that he expected the project to teach his staff “how, as journalists, we [can] teach readers about verification, and use them to strengthen our verification.”

Dave Price, a reporter at WHO-TV in Des Moines, shared his station’s plan for online coverage of the upcoming governor’s election and his desire to use the project to apply online political reporting tools to other topic areas. Price cited the perpetuation of reporter blogs and greater use of “raw,” unproduced video as examples of features the station would look to use in other areas of its website.

CCJ Broadcast Director Walter Dean, left, and CCJ Executive Director Jeffrey Dvorkin, right, look on as WHO-TV Des Moines reporter Dave Price discusses his station's online political coverage.

Minnesota Public Radio senior vice president Bill Buzenberg and Michael Skoler, the executive director of MPR’s Center for Innovation in Journalism [8], shared their project proposal to involve listeners and website users in reporting on the standardized test “achievement gap” between white and minority students in Minnesota. Skoler noted that viewing the audience as “partners” rather than as an “unruly mob” or the “adoring masses” would be a key perception change encouraged by the project.

A fourth project, the Missouri Local Journalism Project, was announced as well. The project is a cooperative venture between the Reynolds Institute and a New York consulting group represented by media consultant Merrill Brown. Brown called the project the first opportunity he was aware of for a group of journalists to sit down with a “blank slate” and adequate resources and “use technology and journalism to connect communities based on geography and common interest.”

“All these projects are aimed at answering the difficult question on so many minds today: How do we ensure that those principles that make journalism indispensable will survive and even thrive in the digital world?” said Geneva Overholser, who holds the Hurley chair at the Missouri School.

Walter Dean, CCJ’s broadcast training director; Jeffrey Dvorkin, CCJ’s executive director and Goldenson Chair in Community Broadcasting at the School; Pam Johnson, the executive director of the Reynolds Institute; Bill Kovach, CCJ’s founding chairman; Dean Mills, the dean of the Missouri School of Journalism; Tom Rosenstiel, CCJ’s vice-chairman; and Esther Thorson, the associate dean for graduate studies and director of research for the Reynolds Institute also participated in the panel.

Findings from the four studies will be presented at a future symposium.

The scene from above the 2006 Hurley Symposium at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.

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